Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, October 15, 2003

2003-10-15 04:00:00 PDT Jerusalem -- The Israeli army ordered 15 Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank expelled to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, reviving a rare, controversial punishment and drawing the immediate ire of Palestinians and human rights groups.

The prisoners, who were being held without trial on secret charges stemming from their alleged membership in armed Palestinian factions, were expected to appeal. They have two days to appeal; they have already been moved to a lockup at the checkpoint on the Gaza-Israel border, where some of them met with an Arab Israeli lawyer Tuesday.

Palestinians seethed over what many saw as yet another hindrance in a stalled peace process. "This is a flagrant obstruction of any effort to restore calm," Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told reporters in Ramallah.

Meanwhile, Qureia and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat continued their dispute over who will run the Palestinian security forces.

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Arafat said on Tuesday that his appointee, Hakam Bilawi, would serve as acting interior minister. But Qurei, whose candidate has been rejected by Arafat, said the position would remain vacant in the emergency government that is serving for one month.

Qurei has threatened to quit when the one-month term expires in early November.

The Israeli army raided the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah again Tuesday. Dozens of Israeli tanks and armored troop carriers entered the town before dawn in a renewed search for tunnels used to smuggle weapons from neighboring Egypt, the military said.

The Israelis maintained a minimal presence in Rafah in the past two days, but they came back in force Tuesday. The military said it found three tunnels last week and believes there are a dozen more.

Sporadic shooting between masked Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers Tuesday left several Palestinians wounded, according to Rafah residents. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been left homeless since the incursion began, with many camping out in schools and public buildings.

The names of the prisoners ordered into expulsion Tuesday were kept secret, but military sources said they were members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Tanzim and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all militant resistance organizations.Also late Tuesday, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for building a barrier that cuts into the West Bank.

The United States was the only country to vote against the measure, using its veto as one of five permanent Security Council members. Four of the 15 members of the council abstained: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Germany and Britain.

The vote came after a fierce daylong debate that saw several countries portray the wall as racist and colonialist, a blatant land grab, and an overreaction that would turn some parts of the Palestinian territories into "open-air prisons."

The United States suggested an alternate draft that would have called on all parties in the Middle East struggle to dismantle terrorist groups. But Syria, the member of the Security Council sponsoring the measure, went ahead with the vote.

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